Tag Archives: 24-bit

Multi-room

Harman Kardon Omni

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Omni 10

The Harman Kardon Wireless HD Audio System consists of the Omni 10 speaker, the Omni 20 speaker and the Adapt, for connection to an existing Hi-Fi system. They are controlled with the Harman Kardon Controller App for iOS and Android. As always, Sonos is the biggest contender that comes to mind.

Omni 10 and Omni 20

The Omni 10 is a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker. It fills small to medium sized rooms with music up to HD quality. The Omni 20 is for larger rooms. Both supports 24bit / 96kHz HD audio streaming. They also got a 3.5 mm audio input.

Bluetooth

Connect a device to one speaker via Bluetooth and it can re-stream the same song through every other speaker in the system. Or play it on just one speaker.

Multi-room

The system supports up to 6 speakers which can be played individually, or linked together.

​Place two Omni speakers in the same room and link them together for 2.0 stereo sound, or add more speakers for a full 5.1 surround configuration. Future software updates will support more multi-channel configurations like 2.1 and 5.0.

Music sources

​Deezer and MixRadio are integrated on launch. Music on devices through Bluetooth.

Price

They will be released soon and has the following target prices: Omni 10, 199$. Omni 20, 299$. Adapt 129$.

Multi-room

LG let’s the Music Flow

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Music_Flow_system

Yet another electronics dragon enters the multi-room market, LG, with the Music Flow system. Targeting Sonos of course and bringing both usual and unusual functionality to the fight.

Music Flow supports 24 bit, 192kHz quality audio across its devices, offering HD music playback. Which Sonos does not.

Music Flow is controlled by the Music Flow Player app on iOS or Android, which streams music sources and services such as Spotify (integrated with Spotify Connect), Deezer, Napster, Internet radio, or sources connected to your Wi-Fi. The devices connect with mesh network technology and dual-band Wi-Fi. They pair with a single tap via NFC (which iPhone does not have). The system has a party mode for playing the same music in all zones and a cinema mode for watching movies.

The Music Flow Player app can also be used for listen to music when you’re on the move.The app works as a standard music player on your phone when it isn’t connected to the speaker setup, so the music can continue to play in it when you leave the house.

You can also interact with the system through instant messages with an IM app. That’s called HomeChat and lets you ask the system for musical recommendations when you are away from home and more. Why is the first question that comes to mind but maybe it has a good answer?

The R1 network bridge (£49.99),  the 40W H5 speaker (£229.99) and 70W H7 speaker (£328.99) will hit the shops first, arriving within a month. The 30W H3 speaker (£149.99) and the HS6 320W Sound bar (£499.99) will follow soon after, according to LG.

Summary

The LG Music Flow system is unusually mature at launch. It meets the core requirements for a multi-room system well and also supports HD audio which not even Sonos does. The competition for the number two spot, behind Sonos, has gotten tighter.

Multi-room

uPlay Stream

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uPlayStream

uPlay Stream from QED is a multi-room Wi-Fi (and ethernet) streamer that focuses on playing music files stored locally and on a few cloud services (sky drive and dropbox). Thats it. No airplay, bluetooth, internet radio or native solutions for Spotify. Just playing audio files.

It plays both standard resolution and uncompressed high resolution files up to 24-bit/96 quality, which is higher than Sonos can (16-bit/44.1). uPlay Stream supports the formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV, FLAC and Apple Lossless.

It connects to a receiver with analogue connections to Phono and 3.5mm jack. So no digital connection available.

You can play music from Mobile devices, Computers, Network Storage and Cloud storage. Either with the dedicated smartphone app for iOS and Android. Or with any DLNA/UPnP compatible client.

uPlayStreamApp

You can have up to 8 uPlay Streams in a multi-room solution. Controlled separately (one controller for each zone is required when playing different music simultaneously) or playing the same music in party mode on all zones (from one controller).

If you don’t have the need for online services like Spotify but want to play your own music files in different quality and formats, uPlay is a product to consider. It’s low price makes it an even more interesting deal.

Multi-room

24-bit audio streaming with Bluesound

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Bluesound is a new streaming system that has something Sonos doesn’t, 24-bit audio steaming. Pair it with the new Wimp HiFi service and you have a system with millions of 24-bit tracks to fill your home with.

The Bluesound product family consists of the following products:

PULSE is a standalone speaker with a 35-bit/844kHz DAC and Bi-amplified Direct-Digital Amplifier by NAD Electronics.

pulse

POWERNODE is player with a built in Direct-Digital Amplifier by NAD Electronics with 80 watts total into 4 ohms. It has outputs to speakers and subwoofer. It also has a USB port for memory.

powernode

NODE is a player without amplifier. It has USB, Analog RCA stereo jack, TOSLINK digital optical output and trigger output.

node

VAULT is a player and a NAS in one unit. It has 1TB storage and a CD reader for ripping music in lossless formats or mp3 to the drive.

vault

All units support TuneIn Radio, WiMP and rdio. Formats MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, WMA-L, FLAC, ALAC, WAV and AIFF. Native Sampling Rates 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz. Bit Depths 16, 24.

The system is controlled by iOS and Android apps. You can play different songs and sources in different rooms at the same time.

Many of the people behind Bluesound has previously worked for NAD and has long experience of high end music systems.

It is nice to see a new multi-room audio system that can handle a comparison with Sonos well. Supporting 24-bit audio makes Bluesound more interesting than Sonos for hardcore music enthusiasts. The support for Wimps new HiFi 24-bit service makes a perfect combination. VAULT ripps and stores your existing CDs in lossless. Bluesound is a great option for music enthusiasts to consider.

Update: Support for Spotify Connect is added. Read more.